Millie’s Christmas Message – Join The Hillcrest Supper Club!

When I was a pup I used to love playing with paper; it was very satisfying to tear it up and chew it into small soggy pieces. Sometimes I would even chew banknotes! Fortunately for Annabelle, I’ve grown out of it now.

Humans never seem to grow out of paper. Annabelle in particular lives in permanent paper chaos, and it gets worse at Christmas, with the postman delivering wads of it every day – Christmas cards, whole books of paper telling you about stuff you must buy, and sheets of it asking for money.

Many of these are from charities. ‘I can’t afford to give to them all!’ Annabelle complains. ‘I’d like to give to some of them, but I can’t make up my mind.’ So she keeps all the paper until she has made up her mind.

Not that charity is a bad thing. If it wasn’t for charity, Pearl and I might not be around today. Greyhound Rescue Wales saved Pearl from a life on the streets and me from a man who only wanted dogs who could make him a lot of money. I’m not very good at making money – only at chewing it – so he didn’t want me. Who knows what would have happened to us if we hadn’t been rescued?

Many dogs need rescuing at Christmas. Some are evicted from their homes because their humans can’t afford to feed them once they’ve spent all their money on Christmas tat. Other humans give dogs to their friends as presents. Can you believe that? I can’t imagine humans wanting to be given as presents, like they’re a toy or something – so why do they think it’s okay to do it to a dog? Often their friends don’t even want a dog that much, and the dog ends up being thrown out with the Christmas rubbish on Boxing Day. Humans are terrible for getting bored with their presents when Christmas is over. So the charities have to take care of the dogs till they find humans who do want them.

Greyhound Rescue Wales has a sanctuary in a place called Hillcrest, where around 14 dogs are waiting to adopt a loving human. That doesn’t sound like many, but we sighthounds are big dogs and get through a lot of food, so GRW have started the Hillcrest Supper Club. Anyone can join this club for as little as £1 a month, and if 500 humans joined it would cover food and treats for all the residents.

Pearl and I get plenty of treats from family and friends at Christmas, but the dogs at Hillcrest have to rely on charity – so if you’d like to give us a present, we’d like nothing better than for you to join the Supper Club. You’d really be helping out the dogs at Hillcrest and the lovely humans who care for them.

A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OUR READERS